White City residents concerned about location of new outdoor rink

City council in White City has approved construction on a piece of environmental reserve land. There was some debate over why the land was designated as environmental reserve land, and whether or not it is legal to build a rink on it.

This screen grab from the town of White City web site is an aerial shot of an area of environmental reserve land (highlighted in red) — the location of a new outdoor skating rink. Screen grab / Town of White City website

Some White City residents are concerned after plans to build an outdoor skating rink on a piece of environmental reserve land was approved by town council.

According to The Planning and Development Act of 2007, environmental reserve land must be left in its natural state with one exception — for use as a public park. The land is located in the Wheatland neighbourhood, where some residents question if a skating rink fits that definition.

On June 12, the Wheatland Delegation Committee presented their concerns to town council. Interpretation of the legislation seems to be at the heart of the disagreement and both committee and town council consulted lawyers in an attempt to clarify the definition of public park.

The delegation maintains a rink does not qualify as a public park and goes against the town’s official community plan, part of which is to preserve, protect and enhance the quality of the land — focusing on areas like parks, public reserves, open spaces and wildlife habitat. But town council is confident it has also done its due diligence.

“The courts have defined what parks are through various cases, all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada (and) has in fact created a definition for parks that does include facilities such as the one that we’re building,” said Ken Kolb, White City town manager.

Kolb cited an Ontario case from 2014, which defines a public park as “a recreational area consisting largely of open space, which may include a playground, swimming pool, arena, playfield.” Kolb said 70 per cent of the area will remain as green space except for some walkways and a play structure, the latter of which will only occupy about two per cent of the space.

“They’ve done their homework and they’ve found out that they actually have the right to do that, which is fine,” said Darrell Liebrecht, one of three members in the Wheatland Delegation Comittee. “My next comment is, why was it named environmental reserve land in the first place?”

According to Kolb, the land was designated as an environmental reserve in December 2002. Prior to that, it was designated as a roadway. He said town council reached out to four different ministries — Highways, Environment, Culture, Parks & Recreation and Government Relations — in an attempt to find out why the designation had been changed, but nobody knew.

Liebrecht said he understands that “if nobody knows, then nobody knows,” but in an ideal world, it would be nice to know before going ahead with construction.

Kolb said after consulting over the phone, the Ministry of Environment didn’t have any concerns about the land. He said town council considered having an environmental consultant assess the land, but did not end up doing so.

Liebrecht is also disappointed in the communication between town council and the residents of Wheatland. Liebrecht didn’t even know the project was going ahead until his wife saw men doing some work on the land.

“The biggest thing is that it’s very important to communicate, and I don’t think it was done really well, especially at the beginning,” said Liebrecht. According to town council meeting minutes listed on the White City website, a concept plan for the rink was proposed on April 3 and a public information session was held on May 8. Kolb said community surveys were sent out — one in 2014 and another earlier this year.

Liebrecht said he only heard that the plan had been approved through the grapevine, and wasn’t aware of any public consultation prior to this year. But since it came to his attention, he said town council has been pretty good about hearing his — and others — concerns and changes were made to the original concept plan to address some of them. The rink, warm-up shack and pathways were moved farther away from residential homes and councillors are working with Liebrecht on possibly erecting a fence or some kind of sound barrier to help with noise.

“I think the town is trying, but it’s a really tough thing to deal with,” said Liebrecht. But he feels like communication is still an issue. He said he was under the impression that Wheatland residents would be told when construction was going to start, before it happened, but that he wasn’t aware until construction had already begun. He said it seems like he is expected to check the town website for updates, but that council should be engaging with Wheatland residents more directly.

“I’m not opposed to outdoor rinks or outdoor facilities or recreational facilities, I’m probably more disappointed in the overall process,” said Liebrecht.

Construction of the rink began on June 20 and is expected to wrap up in October.

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